Today in history: May 16, 2010

Today is Sunday, May 16, the 136th day of 2010. There are 229 days left in the year.

In 1770, Marie Antoinette, age 14, married the future King Louis XVI of France, who was 15.

In 1866, Congress authorized minting of the first five-cent piece, also known as the “Shield nickel.”

In 1868, the Senate failed by one vote to convict President Andrew Johnson as it took its first ballot on the 11 articles of impeachment against him.

In 1910, the U.S. Bureau of Mines was established. (It ceased operations in 1996, its functions having been transferred to other agencies.)

In 1920, Joan of Arc was canonized by Pope Benedict XV.

In 1929, the first Academy Awards were presented. The movie “Wings” won “best production,” while Emil Jannings and Janet Gaynor were named best actor and best actress.

In 1939, the government began its first food stamp program in Rochester, N.Y.

In 1948, CBS News correspondent George Polk, who’d been covering the Greek civil war between Communist and nationalist forces, was found slain in Salonica Harbor.

In 1960, a Big Four summit conference in Paris collapsed on its opening day as Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev demanded, but did not receive, an apology from President Dwight D. Eisenhower over the U-2 incident. The first working laser was demonstrated at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu by physicist Theodore Maiman.

In 1975, Japanese climber Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

In 1990, death claimed entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. in Los Angeles at age 64 and “Muppets” creator Jim Henson in New York at age 53.

Ten years ago: The Federal Reserve raised its federal funds rate by half a point, the biggest increase in five years. The New York Democratic Party, meeting in Albany, nominated first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton for the U.S. Senate. The Britney Spears album “Oops!... I Did It Again” was released by Jive Records.

Five years ago: Newsweek magazine retracted its Quran abuse story that sparked deadly protests in Afghanistan. Army Spc. Sabrina Harman was convicted at Fort Hood, Texas, of six of the seven charges she’d faced for her role in the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. (Harman was sentenced to six months in prison after testimony about her acts of kindness toward Iraqis before she became an Abu Ghraib guard; she served about three months.) The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that states can’t bar out-of-state wine shipments.

One year ago: The ruling Congress Party swept to a resounding victory in India’s mammoth national elections. Rachel Alexandra became the first filly to win the Preakness Stakes since 1924, holding off a late charge by Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird to capture the middle jewel of the Triple Crown by a length.